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Post by Dirty Epic on Aug 29, 2021 10:49:36 GMT
Alexei Sayles Stuff. Either two or three series, late 80s/early 90s, I thought it was very funny in parts. It was a sketch show with a slight Pythonish feel to it. A few memorable sketches in it were Freddie Kruger as the new director of a ballet company, Father Christmas Polar Czar, where Santa was an oppressive Stalinist dictator and a brilliant skit on 80s Hollywood trash, Things Exploding, with the sequel Things Exploding 2, Everything Explodes. Good shout Cartman although Alexei's act/persona could be a bit hit and miss at times, when it was good it worked well.
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Post by Cartman on Sept 30, 2021 19:49:04 GMT
Another forgotten programme I have just remembered is Leave it to Charlie. It was a Granada production and It was set in an insurance office in, I think, Bolton. David Roper and Peter Saliss were in It, I think there were more than one series, but I only remember the last one, in early 1980.
It wasn't bad, mildly funny, but I haven't seen it since 1980. Will have a look on YouTube to see If any are on there.
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Post by Cartman on Oct 4, 2021 20:06:44 GMT
Another programme I have just remembered was a BBC dramatized documentary series from 1974 called Fall of Eagles. It was a series about the decline of the three European empires of the 19th century, the Hapsburgs of Austria Hungary, the Hohenzollern s of Germany and the Romanov dynasty in Russia.
It covered the period between 1848 and 1918, which was the year the Austrian and German emporers were deposed, the last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II, had already gone in 1917, due to the Russian revolution.
It was a bit slow really, there were a couple of faces in it, James Cossins, the bloke who Basil thought was the Hotel inspector, and Diane Keen. Probably the best episode was the one about Mayerling, a scandal in 1889, where Rudolf, the heir to the Hapsburg empire, killed his 17 year old mistress, Mary Vetsera, then shot himself.
Anyone remember this series?
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Post by Cartman on Oct 6, 2021 20:43:00 GMT
A couple of ITV sitcoms from the 70s, which were a bit different to the usual run of stuff from ITV at that time were No Honestly and The Upchat Line, from 74 and 77 respectively, both featured John Alderton. Pauline Collins, who he was, and I think still is, married to was in No Honestly with him, and the theme tune, by Lindsey De Paul was quite good.
John Alderton was one of those actors who was everywhere on telly in the 70s, then seemed to disappear
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Oct 6, 2021 23:04:01 GMT
'Full House' is another naff sitcom from 1985/6 currently on Forces TV. Brian Capron & Natalie Forbes play a flighty 'working class' couple sharing a house with sensible middle class couple Christopher Strauli & Sabina Franklyn, Capron is jack the lad, Strauli is conservative & uptight, hilarity ensues. Not one of Johnnie Mortimer & Brian Cooke's best efforts.
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Post by Nightfly on Oct 7, 2021 8:59:31 GMT
A couple of ITV sitcoms from the 70s, which were a bit different to the usual run of stuff from ITV at that time were No Honestly and The Upchat Line, from 74 and 77 respectively, both featured John Alderton. Pauline Collins, who he was, and I think still is, married to was in No Honestly with him, and the theme tune, by Lindsey De Paul was quite good. I remember reading a story in the papers at the time about The Upchat Line which was written by Keith Waterhouse of Billy Liar fame. Keith was so angry that John Alderton had changed the script so much that he demanded his name be taken off the credits. I think it was changed to "Series created by KW" rather than "Written by.." Strange thing is that I remember the jazzy theme song for Upchat and Lindsey De Paul's song for No Honestly, but I don't remember anything about the premise of either sitcoms. Lindsey could always bash out a good tune and she was robbed in the 1977 Eurovision contest.
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Post by Cartman on Oct 7, 2021 9:45:08 GMT
'Full House' is another naff sitcom from 1985/6 currently on Forces TV. Brian Capron & Natalie Forbes play a flighty 'working class' couple sharing a house with sensible middle class couple Christopher Strauli & Sabina Franklyn, Capron is jack the lad, Strauli is conservative & uptight, hilarity ensues. Not one of Johnnie Mortimer & Brian Cooke's best efforts. I don't remember that one Arthur, suspect it just went in at one ear and out of the other, even if it was on at all. That period seemed to be the peak of really naff sitcoms
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Post by Sam Tyler on Oct 7, 2021 9:48:02 GMT
John Alderton was one of those actors who was everywhere on telly in the 70s, then seemed to disappear That reminds me of yet another series he was in which was "My Wife Next Door" with Hannah Gordon. From IMDB: "Divorced ex-couple George and Suzie Basset separately move to the country for separate fresh starts, then find out that they have moved into adjoining cottages." Being aged only 31 at the time, what was not to like about Hannah Gordon? Sam
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Post by Palmer on Oct 7, 2021 10:21:42 GMT
I've just be trawling through this thread and it really is amazing!!!
In this day of 'on demand' and '+1' channels it is all too easy to forget that if you missed watching a television show that was it... You missed it for good (unless you had a couple of grand spare to buy a television tape recorder)!!
How times have changed...
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Post by Nightfly on Oct 7, 2021 10:46:26 GMT
In this day of 'on demand' and '+1' channels it is all too easy to forget that if you missed watching a television show that was it... You missed it for good (unless you had a couple of grand spare to buy a television tape recorder)!! As a kid, I was in the small audience of a show in 1973 which was broadcast on Xmas day and only saw it once when it was broadcast on a B&W set. It would be 40+ years before I was able to see it again and that was courtesy of the ITV archive after buying a copy once they found it for me. Back then, the only VCRs around would be the one they dragged out for us to watch the schools programmes on. At our school, the VCR would often break down and the school AV technician, who was a bearded boffin complete with white coat called Jim, would rush in to sort it out whilst the class would chant "Jim'll Fix It". I doubt he would like to be reminded of that if he's still around...
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